In recent years, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has significantly accelerated many aspects of life and work, including creativity. AI has been used to create artwork, music, and even texts that can be difficult to distinguish from those produced by humans. This raises the question: how does copyright law impact AI-generated creativity? Can AI be considered an author? Can copyright law protect works generated by AI? Let’s explore these issues.
Copyright Law and AI-Generated Creativity
Copyright law protects creativity in the fields of literature, science, and art. For a work to be eligible for protection, it must be original and express the individual character of the creator. The challenge arises because AI-generated creativity is not “creative” in the traditional sense – AI lacks individuality or personality, and the creation of works by AI is more of a process of generation rather than creation.
The Issue of Authorship
Another aspect is the issue of authorship. Traditionally, copyright law attributes authorship to the human individual who created the work. However, in the case of AI, it is the machine that generates the work, not a person. So, can authorship be assigned to AI? Should authorship be attributed to the creator of AI? These questions pose new challenges to copyright law.
Many experts argue that the creator of AI should not be considered the author of AI-generated works because they are not directly responsible for the specific creations. On the other hand, attributing authorship to AI itself is problematic as machines do not have personal rights.
The Need for New Regulations
It is clear that current copyright regulations are not sufficiently equipped to deal with AI-generated creativity. This calls for the introduction of new regulations that consider the specifics of AI.
Some proposals include establishing a new type of protection for works generated by AI that would be less restrictive than traditional copyright law. Others suggest creating a category of “machine author” that would allow for certain rights to be assigned to AI creators.
Creativity generated by artificial intelligence pushes the boundaries we know in traditional copyright law. The works created by AI pose a new challenge for copyright law, which must decide what rights should be attributed to AI creators and whether AI can be treated as an author. These are important questions that need to be resolved as we adapt our laws to new technologies. These issues will likely be the subject of further debates and research in the coming years.
